1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of Wedding Band. In other words, “Where are we?” “When is it (time, day, and year)?” “Who are the people involved?” “What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds? The play takes place in a South Carolinian, coastal city during the summer of 1918. Julia, Mattie, Teeta, Lula, and Nelson are gradually introduced as occupants of the backyard houses that Fanny, another character, owns. Julia is the newest tenant and is in the process of moving in. We soon learn that Julia has been in an illegal relationship with Herman, a white immigrant from Germany, for 10 years. We get the sense that two have developed a routine of discretion and evasion to preserve their relationship.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play? NOTE: Arguments might be made for several different points where stasis is broken. Be prepared to defend your point of view, if different from other students. The intrusion of Wedding Band occurs at the end of act one, when Herman falls ill with the flu and passes out in Julia’s yard. Herman’s illness is what knocks the stasis of the play off course, leading to an eruption of racist/prejudiced volleys between Herman’s mother and Julia. This exchange triggers a cathartic response in Julia. Herman’s illness (and the racial tension it brings to a head) ultimately provides the couple with the opportunity to vocalize the emotions and thoughts that have hitherto been left unsaid: the wounds left behind by the injustices done to their people, privileges, shame, and the attribution of responsibility to an individual (Herman) for the wrongs of a group of people (white mistreatment of black individuals).
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? The play begins on Julia’s first day in her new residence. The unique factor is that this is also the day that Herman falls fatally ill with the flu. Herman’s illness is what causes the plot to unfold the way it does, shaping the events of the rest of the play. Consequently, the dilemma the Herman’s illness creates, forces the couple to face and the ugly reality of their unavoidable differences and the world around them, which they transcend at the end of the play.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.) Two of the main dramatic questions that are answered in the final scene are: ‘Will Julia and Herman have the happily ever after they dreamed of?’ and ‘Will Julia and Herman’s love survive their differences/society?’ The audience knows by the final lines that while their love persists in the face of a racist society, Herman is going to die, making their dream impossible.
5. Use Julia to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken by that character. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Wedding Band the wants of Julia are in flux. They change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual or individuals, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles in the play. The initial obstacle that Julia is faced with in Wedding Band is the disproval/disdain of the people around her. She fights back against the judgments of others: verbally retaliating to Herman’s mother verbal abuse and discrimination, trying to remedy her reputation (damaged after they learn about her and Herman) with her neighbors. The reactions to her interracial relationship and vicious prejudice against her as a black female reveal an overarching struggle: Julia against society. Julia is fighting to evade the law that forbids her relationship and the racist conventions of her society.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Wedding Band. I think that the most theatrical moment in Wedding Band is when Julia forbids anyone from entering her house. We get this clear image of her shutting the door in the worlds’ face. Through this profound, theatrical moment, Julia renounces the world saying: “Do whatever you have to do. Win the war. Represent the race. Call the police.” Julia effectively shuts out the threats of the law, the prejudice of others, etc. to focus on her last moments with Herman.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Wedding Band. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”) Wedding Band is named for the necklaced wedding ring that Herman gives to Julia. The ring represents the limited nature of their relationship- neither they nor the ring can be seen or validated in society and they are forced to hide both their relationship and the ring. Some other images that further express Julia and Herman’s limitations are the boat tickets and Julia’s hope chest. The two tickets that Herman bought so that they could go to the ‘free’ North are for blacks only. He claims that he can trade one for a ‘white ticket’ but the tickets are a clear sign to the audience that the limitations of race will follow them. Julia’s hope chest presents another limitation inhibiting their relationship. Julia’s wedding dress is locked away in the chest just like her hopes of marrying Herman have been carefully stored and locked away. Her hopes become tangible as she gets the dress out while she and Herman are talking about what their life would be like up North.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Wedding Band. I think that some of the main themes in Wedding Band are racial/ethnic discrimination, tolerance/intolerance, and suppression/oppression
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Wedding Band? Perhaps you might argue for several different kinds of family in this particular play. What do you think? In Wedding Band, the definition of family becomes more intentional. In the play, family as blood-relation is constantly being refuted. Lula and Nelson consider each other family, even though, as Fanny points out that Lula adopted him. Herman considers Julia family, arguably more so than his own Mother. Julia even goes so far as to rebuke Herman’s negative words about his mother, pointing out that she raised him and that she’s his mother and his family. Julia refers to Mattie and Teeta as family despite knowing them for several days on the grounds that they are bound by race. Ultimately, family is a multi-faceted term in this play: family is something you are born into as well as something you can make in the life around you.
The play takes place in a South Carolinian, coastal city during the summer of 1918. Julia, Mattie, Teeta, Lula, and Nelson are gradually introduced as occupants of the backyard houses that Fanny, another character, owns. Julia is the newest tenant and is in the process of moving in. We soon learn that Julia has been in an illegal relationship with Herman, a white immigrant from Germany, for 10 years. We get the sense that two have developed a routine of discretion and evasion to preserve their relationship.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play? NOTE: Arguments might be made for several different points where stasis is broken. Be prepared to defend your point of view, if different from other students.
The intrusion of Wedding Band occurs at the end of act one, when Herman falls ill with the flu and passes out in Julia’s yard. Herman’s illness is what knocks the stasis of the play off course, leading to an eruption of racist/prejudiced volleys between Herman’s mother and Julia. This exchange triggers a cathartic response in Julia. Herman’s illness (and the racial tension it brings to a head) ultimately provides the couple with the opportunity to vocalize the emotions and thoughts that have hitherto been left unsaid: the wounds left behind by the injustices done to their people, privileges, shame, and the attribution of responsibility to an individual (Herman) for the wrongs of a group of people (white mistreatment of black individuals).
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor which is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The play begins on Julia’s first day in her new residence. The unique factor is that this is also the day that Herman falls fatally ill with the flu. Herman’s illness is what causes the plot to unfold the way it does, shaping the events of the rest of the play. Consequently, the dilemma the Herman’s illness creates, forces the couple to face and the ugly reality of their unavoidable differences and the world around them, which they transcend at the end of the play.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
Two of the main dramatic questions that are answered in the final scene are: ‘Will Julia and Herman have the happily ever after they dreamed of?’ and ‘Will Julia and Herman’s love survive their differences/society?’ The audience knows by the final lines that while their love persists in the face of a racist society, Herman is going to die, making their dream impossible.
5. Use Julia to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken by that character. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Wedding Band the wants of Julia are in flux. They change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual or individuals, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles in the play.
The initial obstacle that Julia is faced with in Wedding Band is the disproval/disdain of the people around her. She fights back against the judgments of others: verbally retaliating to Herman’s mother verbal abuse and discrimination, trying to remedy her reputation (damaged after they learn about her and Herman) with her neighbors. The reactions to her interracial relationship and vicious prejudice against her as a black female reveal an overarching struggle: Julia against society. Julia is fighting to evade the law that forbids her relationship and the racist conventions of her society.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Wedding Band.
I think that the most theatrical moment in Wedding Band is when Julia forbids anyone from entering her house. We get this clear image of her shutting the door in the worlds’ face. Through this profound, theatrical moment, Julia renounces the world saying: “Do whatever you have to do. Win the war. Represent the race. Call the police.” Julia effectively shuts out the threats of the law, the prejudice of others, etc. to focus on her last moments with Herman.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in Wedding Band. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
Wedding Band is named for the necklaced wedding ring that Herman gives to Julia. The ring represents the limited nature of their relationship- neither they nor the ring can be seen or validated in society and they are forced to hide both their relationship and the ring. Some other images that further express Julia and Herman’s limitations are the boat tickets and Julia’s hope chest. The two tickets that Herman bought so that they could go to the ‘free’ North are for blacks only. He claims that he can trade one for a ‘white ticket’ but the tickets are a clear sign to the audience that the limitations of race will follow them. Julia’s hope chest presents another limitation inhibiting their relationship. Julia’s wedding dress is locked away in the chest just like her hopes of marrying Herman have been carefully stored and locked away. Her hopes become tangible as she gets the dress out while she and Herman are talking about what their life would be like up North.
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in Wedding Band.
I think that some of the main themes in Wedding Band are racial/ethnic discrimination, tolerance/intolerance, and suppression/oppression
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with the dramatic action in Wedding Band? Perhaps you might argue for several different kinds of family in this particular play. What do you think?
In Wedding Band, the definition of family becomes more intentional. In the play, family as blood-relation is constantly being refuted. Lula and Nelson consider each other family, even though, as Fanny points out that Lula adopted him. Herman considers Julia family, arguably more so than his own Mother. Julia even goes so far as to rebuke Herman’s negative words about his mother, pointing out that she raised him and that she’s his mother and his family. Julia refers to Mattie and Teeta as family despite knowing them for several days on the grounds that they are bound by race. Ultimately, family is a multi-faceted term in this play: family is something you are born into as well as something you can make in the life around you.